Treo Battery Charger: Palm or Seidio?

As I mentioned last week, with the almost simultaneous release of two new Treo battery chargers I found it a little difficult to pick one over the other. The Palm Treo Battery Charger is by far the most elegant as well as extremely small and light while the Seidio Multi-Function Treo Battery Charger is more versatile with the option to charge both via USB and AC Power as well as offering the ability to charge both your spare battery and Treo smartphone simultaneously.

Leaving aside my own opinion for a second it appears that Treonauts at large have already decided that the Palm Treo Battery Charger is the better choice as this Treo accessory has rapidly shot up to become the second bestselling product in the Treonauts Shop. Now that I’ve had the opportunity to travel with both battery charging solutions I have to admit that I’ve also come to the same conclusion and chosen Palm’s version (below) as my favourite – its compact size and terrific design really wins the contest.

Having said this however, as my original Palm Treo Battery Charger review mentioned, while I have no trouble using either a Treo Wall Charger or Treo Car Charger (image below) to provide power to the battery charger I am still somewhat annoyed that Palm failed to include a USB cable with their battery charger since this is the power option that I use most frequently – both at home, work and when travelling.

I therefore set out to find the best USB cable and power solution to charge _both_ my Treo smartphone and battery from a USB port on my PC or a wall/car power outlet. The options are varied and the best one for you personally will depend on which Treo accessories you already own. In my case I seem to have found the ideal solution in the Seidio Retractable S&C Duo Cable pictured below – an accessory that was originally designed to simultaneously charge your Treo and Palm Compact Wireless Headset and which I have now also found to work perfectly to simultaneously charge my Treo and new battery charger from a single USB port.

Finally, although the above solution will work fine to power from a free PC USB port you will evidently need a separate USB adapter if like me you would also like to power from a wall or car outlet. My first solution for this is the Mobi DuoCharger (below left) which wall and car power in a single accessory. The second is the extremely useful Mobi World Wall Adapter that I always carry for my international travels. The last are the separate car and wall USB adapters (below right) that are part of the SPE Sync & Charge Bundle.

Overall, the Palm Treo Battery Charger has proven to be a terrific new accessory. If your charging needs are relatively basic then a simple separate wall or car charger will be fine to power your new battery charger but if like me you prefer the convenience of USB charging for all your electronic Treo accessories then the addition of the Seidio Retractable S&C Duo Cable and Mobi DuoCharger will provide you with an even more flexible solution.

Comments

I don't see how you can say that it is a more elegant solution when you have to carry around a seperate wall charger. The Seidio is an all in one unit making it smaller and easier to travel with.

2

by Rob | Apr 19, 2007 2:23:12 PM

Maybe one of the reasons Treonauts seem to have chosen the Palm battery charger is because the Sendio is on indefinite back order here?

I like the palm battery charger but I need to charge both the phone and the battery at the same time and using a dual cable, palm charger and wall plug is a little clunky compared to the integrated solution offered by the Sendio.

3

by Fred | Apr 20, 2007 4:02:48 AM

I like the size of the Palm charger, but is there an indicator that shows when the battery is fully charged?
And if not, why not?

4

by Mike Kelley | Apr 25, 2007 12:06:00 PM

I would go with Palm because Seidio products seem to be EXTREMELY poor quality. I have gone through 2 of their charging cradles with integrated GPS chipsets and they have all had intermitent failures. A coworker is having the same problems with Seidio smartphone equipment. Seidio only warranties their products for like 6 mos. Funny how all their stuff breaks down at about 7 mos....

5

by Redwood | Apr 27, 2007 10:07:02 AM

Amen, to the last comment about Seido's poor quality control. I have yet to have a Seido product last more than a few weeks. I would stay away from their products if you actually want something that keeps on ticking...

6

by Kelli | Dec 21, 2011 5:23:27 PM

Hi - I know this is an older thread but I have a TREO Battery Charger that will fit the Treo 650, 680, 700 or 750 and an Air Case and Holster to fit a Treo 680 or 750. They are sitting on my desk and I want to give them away for free...does anyone use the TREO anymore? Call me at 800-300-9993 and I'll ship it out FREE. Only one of each avail.

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